Qualify for Live Events – Bankroll Management

Whenever you read poker site reviews or various poker promotions, it’s always nice and reassuring to see that “you can qualify online for as little as $1” for the massive, high buy-in live event that you dream about. While it is indeed theoretically possible to qualify for small change, you shouldn’t take that literally. There are no guarantees when it comes to online qualifiers and the deeper down you go in the sub-satellite structure, the less likely a successful qualification becomes. Those who do indeed start from $1 sub-sub-sub satellites need a boatload of luck plus a few boatloads of skill to make it all the way.

The point I’m trying to make is that those who are serious about earning their WSOP, WPT or EPT seat online calculate ahead. They sign up to an online poker site which not only offers excellent satellites, but gives its players rakeback too (like the party rakeback). Online qualifiers take tournament fees the same way regular MTTs and SNGs do. Given the number of qualifiers one has to play in, in order to get that coveted package, getting back at least a part of those tournament fees is a high priority. Those who sign up as poker props may even get all their tournament fees back. poker props hired by such poker rooms often end up being paid to play. The bottom line is that securing some sort of a loyalty reward which keeps on giving should be an integral part of your bankroll management effort.

Another thing that you should make 100% clear for yourself is the fact that your dream has its cost. If you’re looking to qualify for a less popular, cheaper and generally poorer event, it will cost you less to achieve your goal. If you have your eyes on the cream of the crop though, like various WSOP, WPT and EPT events, you have to be prepared that the price will be much higher. Despite that, most players will in fact be able to manage their bankrolls successfully in order to get the package they’re after.

Let us take a closer look at an actual average poker bankroll of $400/month. How much of it does one allot for live event qualifiers? $400 is a decent example in the sense that it represents the bankroll of an average poker player who lives an average life, quite reasonably. Allotting about $100 of that to regular MTTs, another $100 for some live action and $200 for live event qualifiers is a great way to split the money up. With that in mind, the average live event bankroll of an average player should be around the $200x12 = $2.4k mark per year. This is the kind of long-term thinking that successful Live Event qualification requires. You can’t just buy into 1-2 qualifiers and expect to hit the bulls-eye straight away. It takes time, it takes patience and it takes mad MTT skills.

The next step is to pick the right qualifying path. There are MTT qualifiers, steps tournaments and rebuy tournaments. More on them though, in our next article.